In general, a refrigerator is equipped with a display portion for informing a user of the operating condition of the refrigerator and for controlling the refrigerator according to the information input by the user. In the meantime, recently, an exterior material of glass is used to make an external appearance of a refrigerator be luxurious. However, since such a display portion should be installed, a front of a door cannot be decorated with an exterior material of glass.
FIG. 1 is a front view showing a refrigerator with a conventional display portion installed thereto, and FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view showing a refrigerator door with the conventional display portion installed thereto.
As shown in the figures, a front external appearance of a door 10 for a refrigerator is defined by an outer door 11. In addition, a door liner 13 defining a rear external appearance of the door 10 is coupled to the rear of the outer door 11. An insulating layer (not shown) is further formed between the outer door 11 and the door liner 13.
In the meantime, a pair of cap decorations 15, which define top and bottom external appearances of the door 10, are coupled to upper and lower ends of the outer door 11 and the door liner 13, respectively.
Each of the cap decorations 15 includes a cap main body 16 extending from side to side and an edge portion 17 bent from a bottom edge of the cap main body 16 and extending by a predetermined length. Thus, the cap main body 16 and the edge portion 17 define a predetermined space within the cap decoration 15 to be opened downward or upward.
A pair of door decorations 21 are respectively coupled to both sides of the outer door 11, door liner 13, and cap decorations 15.
Each of the door decorations 21 is formed to have a side portion 22 vertically extending and a fastening hook 24 bent from a front end of the side portion 22 and extending. The side portions 22 define both side external appearances of the door 10, and the fastening hooks 24 are respectively formed with fastening grooves 24a opened in the direction to face each other, into which side edges of a front plate 29 and display assembly, which will be described below, are respectively inserted.
The cap decorations 15 and the door decorations 21 are to each other fixed with a plurality of screws (not shown). That is, the screws that penetrate the cap decorations 15 fix the cap decorations 15 and the door decorations 21 to each other.
In the meantime, the front plate 29 is installed on the front of the outer door 11. The front plate 29, which improves the front external appearance of the door 10, is formed of a coated glass plate. In addition, both side edges of the front plate 29 are inserted into the fastening grooves 24a to be fixed. The front plate 29 is made so that its height is lower than that of the outer door 11, thus enabling a display assembly, which will be described below, to be installed to the front plate.
The display assembly 30 is installed to a lower end of the front plate. The display assembly comprises a display section for showing an operating condition of the refrigerator and a control section for controlling an operating condition of the refrigerator.
However, the above prior art has the following problems.
That is, since the display assembly is separately manufactured and installed, there is a problem in that it is impossible to create an external appearance of the display assembly to have integrity with the front plate.
In addition, since the display assembly is installed to protrude in the prior art, it is impossible to create an external appearance of the display assembly to have integrity with the front plate. Further, foreign materials are introduced into the display and control sections of the display assembly, thereby often resulting in the cause of a trouble. Thus, the necessity for a refrigerator with the front formed of a glass becomes a prominent feature.
Meanwhile, in order to manufacture a refrigerator with the front formed of a transparent plate, a display portion should be installed within a front decoration. However, it has been necessary to provide a structure for stably seating the display portion in a correct position of the front decoration.